YOU ARE INVITED TO ATTEND THE KICK OFF CEREMONY OF THE FOOD SCRAP RECYCLING INITIATIVE IN GREENBURGH ON SATURDAY, JANUARY 20

Greenburgh's Food Scrap Recycling Opening Event

Saturday, January 20th, 2018

Anthony F Veteran Park, 11am-12pm, Heatherdell Road, Ardsley

Opening Ceremony with the Town Supervisor

Starter Kits available for purchase

Demonstrations by the Greenburgh Nature Center

Light refreshments to be served

The Town of Greenburgh, in partnership with the Greenburgh Nature Center, will kick off the largest residential food scrap recycling program in Westchester County beginning January 17, 2018. An official opening ceremony is planned for SATURDAY, January 20 from 11 AM to 12 PM at AF Veteran Park off of Heatherdell Road, Ardsley. We hope you will attend. And, also hope you will advise your friends of this initiative. This is a very exciting initiative. The village of Scarsdale was the first community in Westchester to offer residents organic recycling collections. It's been a tremendous success in that village.

As of January 17th, Anthony F Veteran Park in Hartsdale will have a drop-off site open daily from 8am-8pm to collect food scraps from the 135,000 residents of the Town of Greenburgh. All food scraps, including but not limited to meat, bones, dairy, fish, fruit, vegetables, bread, pasta, cooked food, leftover food, etc. will be accepted. The collected food scraps will then be transferred to a commercial composting facility outside of Greenburgh to be recycled into nutrient-rich compost.

With the launch of the Town of Greenburgh program, the population of Westchester residents with access to a food scrap drop-off site will nearly triple. Greenburgh will be following in the footsteps of Scarsdale, Larchmont-Mamaroneck, and Bedford, whose programs serve approximately 70,000 Westchester residents in total.

The Greenburgh Nature Center teaches visitors about sustainable materials management through their green birthday parties, zero-waste sorting stations, and compost systems. They introduced a food scrap recycling pilot program in the summer of 2015 which taught Anthony F Veteran Pool visitors about the benefits of composting using on-site zero-waste sorting stations. As a local leader in sustainability education, the Nature Center has been teaching local public schools such as Greenville Elementary, Seely Place Elementary, Edgemont High School, and Springhurst Elementary how to implement comprehensive recycling and composting as part of their daily operations.

Food scrap collection "starter kits" can be purchased by residents at Anthony F Veteran Park or Greenburgh Nature Center with a $20 check payable to the Town of Greenburgh. A starter kit includes a small countertop pail, a larger storage and transportation bin, and a roll of compostable liner bags.

I hope you will attend the kick off and help us make this initiative a big success. Eventually, I'd like to see food scrap recycling become part of the Greenburgh DPW pickup. Am also hoping that the county will help localities that are offering residents a drop off location find a suitable composting site so that the food that is being recycled doesn't have to be transported out of county.